Processing Payroll

For Admin and Payroll teammates, Payroll Summary leads to Union Reports, then Submit Payroll. A run with nothing union on it, at a company with no union contract, has no Union Reports step and goes straight to Submit Payroll (see The steps of a payroll run). An Approver continues directly from Payroll Summary to Submit Payroll once the run is In review. This page covers what happens on the way to releasing money.

Union Reports

For Admin and Payroll teammates, where the run has it, the fourth step shows a report for each union with payees on this run — fund routing, per-payee union calculations, and a Mark union reviewed checkbox for each union (for example, Mark AEA reviewed).

Marking a union reviewed is optional. The step's footer says so ("Union review is optional. You can continue without marking every union as reviewed."), and its Continue: Submit Payroll button takes you to the submit screen whether or not every union is marked. The step bar doesn't wait for review either: its Submit Payroll tab opens once the run is past Draft, unless a report is missing hours worked (below). On the submit screen, the unions list shows each one's state, and an unreviewed union doesn't disable the submit button. See Union Reports.

What a report can hold up is data it can't do without. A union whose benefit contribution is billed per hour (a Local 764 Guardian, for example) needs the hours worked entered on its report. Until they are:

• that union's checkbox can't be ticked ("Enter hours worked for name first."), and the step's footer reads "Enter hours worked on every union report before you submit. Until then this payroll can't be submitted.";
• the step bar's Submit Payroll tab stays locked ("Enter hours worked on the union reports first");
• the submit button is disabled, and the unions list on the submit screen marks that union hours worked missing;
• the server refuses to submit or approve the run, with "This payroll can't be approved yet — hours worked are outstanding on…", naming the union and the payees.

Submit Payroll

Admin and Payroll teammates prepare and send payroll. All three roles — Admin, Payroll, and Approver — can approve a run they did not prepare. Preparing a run means changing what it pays: anyone whose saved change moved its amounts (a line, a rate or hours, adding or removing a payee, or a change to a payee's record or a company setting that re-priced it) is one of its preparers from then on. Until anyone has, the person who started the run is its preparer, and sending it for approval keeps them one. Starting the run, a tax sync, and changes by Greenroom staff or by the payee themselves don't count. The approval that completes your company's required approvals submits the payroll automatically unless our tax partner's final review is pending or another submit check refuses it. You review the attestation before choosing Approve this payroll. If submission is refused after your approval is recorded, the page keeps your approval and explains what must happen next.

What the step shows

The final step recaps the run one more time before you commit to it:

• Final figures — payee count, gross, net pay, fringe funds where applicable, employer taxes (with an estimate/synced note), and the direct-deposit/physical-check split

• The amount to fund — the Payroll funding summary card. Its figure is Total to fund, everything this payroll takes out of your account, and its line says when the money leaves: "Make sure [amount] is in your bank account." then "Direct deposits and taxes are auto-debited from your account in one lump sum on [day], not on payday.", where the day is the approval deadline's. Payroll Totals explains both, and when either is left out. On a demo company's payroll the line reads "Demo estimate for the [date] check date. No money moves.", and where no money moves at all (our tax partner's test environment, or no connection to it) it reads "No funds debit in this environment." The same card stays on the page under the Payroll sent for approval receipt. A confirmed figure has no funding-source badge. An estimate or problem still has a badge, such as Estimated amount to fund, Funding: not confirmed, Funding: declined, Funding: unreadable, or Funding: figures don't match; see What can block submitting.

• Paper checks, if anyone on this run is paid by paper check: the net pay by paper check and what's registered and ready to print. Once our tax partner has approved the payroll you print them, or, where mailing is turned on for your production, have us print and mail them; see What happens when you submit below. On a demo company's payroll the card shows Estimated net pay by paper check (and Estimated trust remittances when there are any) and says "Demo estimate. No paper checks or trust payments are sent." A run where everyone is paid by direct deposit has no Paper checks card

• New York unemployment rate decision, on your company's first payroll that includes a W-2 employee if Greenroom doesn't have your rate on file. A contractor-only payroll shows neither this decision nor the later missing-rate warning — see What can block submitting below

• Union reports, on a run that has a Union Reports step — every union on the run, each marked reviewed, not marked reviewed, or hours worked missing. Missing hours say "Enter hours worked on the … report first. This payroll can't be submitted until then." and disable the submit button; an unreviewed union only gets "Union review is optional. You can submit without marking every union as reviewed."

• Rates not yet checked against the agreement, a card that appears when any union on this run is priced from rates not yet checked against its agreement. Inside, it lists them ("Rates not yet checked against the agreement: [union and agreement]") and says "Look over this union’s deductions and fringes before you submit. Submitting confirms you reviewed those amounts yourself." It doesn't block. When the approval panel is on the screen too, the two share one card: the approval's status is its title, with a Rates not yet checked chip under it. See Payroll Calculations

• "This production’s Business info is incomplete", if it is — see Business info gaps below

• A post-tax deduction notice, comparing what Greenroom recorded with what will be withheld for every post-tax deduction, and naming any deduction set up outside Greenroom. See Post-tax deductions and our tax partner below

• Tax forms not finished, naming any employee our tax partner will pay at the standard withholding rate because their tax forms are unfinished (behind Show the N payees when there are more than three). It doesn't block; see Checked per payee, all at once

• A money-movement notice, unless this is a live payroll — see Will submitting actually move money? below

Approval and your attestation

Before you send, approve, or submit, the step includes:

• Approval panel, if your company requires approval from another person before submitting. It reads "Needs approval from someone other than preparer", naming every preparer, until then, and "Approved by name" after. If you prepared the run and no teammate who didn't prepare it is set up to approve it, the panel opens with a notice that says so and names anyone who hasn't set a password yet, with a Go to Team settings button. See Payroll Run Status, and When no teammate is set up to approve yet for the notice

• The approval deadline for the check date, from our tax partner's own calendar: "Approve and submit by [day and time] for the [check date] check date.", for example "Approve and submit by Mon, Oct 26, 3:00 PM EDT for the Thu, Oct 29, 2026 check date." The approval that completes the required approvals submits the payroll, so that is when the last approval has to land. Once every required approval is recorded and only the submit is left, it reads "Submit by …". If Greenroom can't read the deadline, it says "We couldn't confirm the approval deadline for this check date. Refresh to try again." A missed deadline needs a new check date; Greenroom never moves it on its own, and the Choose a new check date notice at the top of the page takes the place of this line (see Changing a missed check date). A demo company's payroll, or one at a company not yet set up with our tax partner, has no deadline line.

• An attestation checkbox: "I reviewed the payroll summary and union reports. Submitting records this run and locks the period. It assigns payment numbers to any direct deposits and numbers any fund and trust checks. Personal checks are numbered when they are printed or mailed, after approval." When a union's rates aren't yet checked against the agreement, the first sentence goes on "…, including verifying the amounts for [union and agreement] myself (rates not yet checked against the agreement)". On a demo company's payroll the last sentence reads "Personal checks are not numbered, because a demo payroll's checks are never printed.", and on an amendment the numbering sentences are replaced by "An amendment gets no payment or check numbers." On a run without Union Reports, the first sentence is "I reviewed the payroll summary." When you are approving, the attestation normally says Approving submits this payroll to Greenroom when the required approval is complete. While the company's final review is pending, that sentence is replaced by Approving records your approval. Once final review is complete, the reviewer who approved, or a Payroll or Admin teammate, must choose Submit to Greenroom. You must check it before approving, sending, or submitting. After you have sent the run and are waiting for a colleague, the attestation is hidden.

The submit button

The action depends on your role and where the approval stands:

• Submit payroll — an Admin or Payroll teammate submits when your company does not require another person's approval.
• Send for approval — a preparer sends the run when it still needs a colleague's approval. Greenroom emails the other active teammates who are ready to approve; the run's preparers, the sender, Greenroom staff, and anyone whose current approval already counts are excluded. The subject is [run code] is waiting for your approval, and Open payroll takes the reviewer to Submit Payroll. The email explains that the last required approval submits automatically.
• Done — back to payroll history — the run has been sent and you're one of its preparers, or an Approver has no submission action yet. The Payroll sent for approval receipt explains what happens next. Right after you send, its email line reads Emailing the approvers now… while Greenroom checks delivery: until it knows the outcome for every approver, or about ten seconds have passed (longer if the page is slow to refresh). Then it reports Approval emails sent to [addresses]., Approval email delivery hasn't been confirmed (for the addresses still unconfirmed, or yet), or Approval email wasn't sent with the addresses it couldn't reach. An unconfirmed line keeps checking every 15 seconds while the page is open. A waiting preparer can use Resend the approval email; emails already sent aren't sent again.
• Submit to Greenroom — the required approval is recorded but submission has not finished. The reviewer whose approval is still current, or an Admin or Payroll teammate, can submit after resolving the refusal and reviewing the attestation. For an Admin or Payroll reviewer who has not approved yet, this button stays disabled; use Approve this payroll below the attestation.

A refused Send for approval is titled Not sent for approval, and a refused Submit payroll Payroll not submitted; the reason follows either way. Fix what it names, then try again. A submit refused because our tax partner is holding your company's payroll is titled Payroll is on hold instead, and there's nothing to fix (see If your company's payroll is on hold). A refusal after a recorded approval is covered under When a colleague approves.

The send and submit buttons wait for the attestation, any missing union-report hours, funding or company-profile refusals, and a required unemployment-rate decision. An Approver cannot make that rate decision: the notice asks a Payroll or Admin teammate to do it.

When a colleague approves

On a run waiting for their review, an Admin, Payroll, or Approver teammate who did not prepare it reviews the attestation, then chooses Approve this payroll or Return to preparer. Returning it requires a note and sends it back to Draft. An Admin or Payroll reviewer who changes what the run pays instead becomes one of its preparers, so someone else then approves it. The final required approval submits automatically and opens the submitted confirmation, unless the company's final review is still pending or a submit check refuses it.

If that submission is refused, the notice reads Approved. Not submitted yet and gives the reason, or Payroll is on hold when our tax partner is holding your company's payroll. The approval stays recorded. Resolve the reason, then the recorded reviewer or a Payroll or Admin teammate can use Submit to Greenroom. If more approvals are still needed, the receipt says so. Changing the payroll's amounts resets its approval.

While your company's final review is pending

Greenroom sends a new company to our tax partner for final review once its setup is ready. Our tax partner's final review appears on the first-payroll checklist with Not started, In review, or Done; Not confirmed means Greenroom still needs to confirm its status. You can prepare payroll, send it for approval, and record approvals while that review is pending; submission to our tax partner waits.

Submit payroll shows Final review is pending and explains:

The company's final review is not complete. You can prepare payroll, send it for approval and record approvals now. You can submit once the review is done. Greenroom is following up.

While the review is pending, the attestation tells an approver that approving only records the approval (see Approval and your attestation), and the approval panel leaves out its usual line that the final approval submits automatically. If your final approval reaches this hold, your approval is kept. Finishing the review doesn't submit the payroll by itself: once the checklist line reads Done, the reviewer whose approval is still current, or an Admin or Payroll teammate, chooses Submit to Greenroom.

If your company's payroll is on hold

Our tax partner can hold a company's payroll even after reporting its final review complete. A payroll it refuses to approve for that reason goes back to In review, and the notice is titled Payroll is on hold:

This company's payroll is on hold. You can prepare payroll, send it for approval and record approvals now. You can submit once the hold is lifted. Greenroom is following up.

Nothing is asked of your team. An approval already recorded stays, and the approval panel still reads Approved · waiting to submit. The page shows the hold alone, without Final review is pending beside it, and Settings → Activity records it as Payroll submit refused by our tax partner: payroll on hold. Once the hold is lifted, submit as after any refusal: Submit to Greenroom for a recorded approval (the reviewer whose approval is still current, or an Admin or Payroll teammate), or Submit payroll when your company doesn't require another person's approval.

Until our tax partner has reported the final review complete, the same refusal reads as the review instead, "The company's final review is not complete. …", and Settings → Activity records Payroll submit waiting on our tax partner's final review.

What happens when you submit

Submitting isn't a long wait — it's a short series of steps that happen right away:

1. Greenroom runs its last checks (see What can block submitting), confirms any required approval, and fixes the platform fee at the amount the run is submitted with. That's the fee History and the printed funding document show from then on.
2. The payroll is sent to our tax partner for approval
3. Union fund payments are calculated and their routing is locked in permanently for this run. Any union fund checks, and any child trust remittance checks for a minor paid by paper check, get their check numbers, continuing from the highest number your company has ever issued. In the same step every direct deposit gets its payment number (see Payment numbers below). An amendment gets no payment or check numbers.
4. The run's status moves to Paying out

From here, the money is committed — see Payroll Run Status for what "Paying out" means and how a run reaches Paid. There's no fixed processing-time estimate to give: assigning check and payment numbers and routing funds happens in moments, and the remaining wait is for your bank to confirm the payout, which isn't on a timer Greenroom controls.

Payment numbers

Every direct deposit on the payroll gets a payment number as the submit finishes: "E" and six digits, from your company's own sequence, which starts at E000001. One number covers a payee's whole net pay on the run, so a deposit split across two bank accounts shares it. Employees, loan-outs, contractors and vendors are all numbered, and so are a demo company's payrolls. An amendment gets none, and neither does a payee with no net pay on the run. Numbers are never reused: a voided payment keeps its number, and a repayment is a new payment that gets the next number in the sequence.

The number shows wherever the payment does: on the payment line of each payee's details on the run's detail page in History (Direct deposit · #E000001), in the payee's Payment history (Direct deposit #E000001), under Payment # in the payroll register and its CSV, on the payee's own statement in the portal (Payment number E000001), under Payment # on the payee's Pay statements tab and on Reports → Pay statements once the payroll is paying out, and in the QuickBooks package. A paper check keeps its check number in those same places. A voided payment keeps showing its number in these places, as a voided paper check does; only the QuickBooks package refuses a voided payment. A payroll that was never numbered, such as one submitted before Greenroom began numbering direct deposits, keeps the register's Check # column.

Personal paper checks are numbered later, not at submit. Once our tax partner has approved the payroll, the Paper checks card (on the submit confirmation and on the run's detail page) offers Admin and Payroll teammates Print checks: it compares each payment with our tax partner's own figures, assigns check numbers to the payments that match, and saves PDFs for you to print on your check stock. Where mailing is turned on for the production, Mail checks sits beside it and does the same comparison and numbering, then has us print and mail the checks. A payroll's checks go out one way or the other, never both. A payment that doesn't match stays listed as an exception and gets no number. On a demo company's payroll the card shows estimates only, with no Print checks or Mail checks, because our tax partner never approves a demo payroll. See Physical Checks.

If our tax partner declines the payroll at the last step

A definite refusal returns the payroll to In review and names the reason. Follow that remedy; there is no 15-minute wait for a payroll that has safely returned to review. An unconfirmed outcome is different: the payroll may already be on its way, so it stays at Processing until Greenroom can check it.

Other safe refusals say the run is back in Review, unchanged and editable. If the message asks you to try again and a second attempt is refused, contact Greenroom.

Whichever branch fires, our tax partner's own wording is recorded against the run for support to read; you're shown the plain-language version instead, because its text usually names an internal object nobody outside Greenroom can act on.

Resuming an interrupted submit

A run left at Processing can be finished from its Submit Payroll step. While the original submit may still be running, the page says Still submitting and updates on its own. Its message says to check back in about 15 minutes. When recovery is available, it reads This submit didn't finish and offers Resume submit to Admin and Payroll teammates and the reviewer whose approval is still current. An Approver with that recorded approval must first check the attestation authorizing Greenroom to finish the revision they approved. Other Approvers see "The reviewer who approved, or a teammate with Payroll or Admin, finishes it with Resume submit on this page."

Resume submit checks the run with our tax partner before continuing. If it was already approved, Greenroom finishes recording that outcome without approving it again. A refused resume stays on the page under Payroll not submitted, or Payroll is on hold when our tax partner is holding your company's payroll. If the check cannot confirm where it stands, that message says "Try Resume submit again in a few minutes; if it keeps happening, contact Greenroom." A run whose amounts are out of balance requires Greenroom to repair it. If the run has already moved to another status, reload it and follow that status instead.

Greenroom also checks interrupted submissions in the background. If it confirms the payroll is still an unapproved draft with our tax partner, it can return the run to In review. Review it there before submitting again.

Changing a missed check date

If the approval deadline has passed, an Admin or Payroll teammate uses Change check date in the Choose a new check date notice. Choose New check date, then Save check date. The dialog recalculates taxes and confirms Check date saved. Taxes were recalculated for the new check date. Existing approvals still count if the amounts stay the same. Review the updated payroll, then submit again.

An Approver sees The approval deadline has passed. Ask a teammate with Payroll or Admin to change the check date. If the date saves but tax recalculation fails, the dialog says Your new check date is saved. Open Payroll Summary and recalculate taxes there before submitting. If you closed the dialog while taxes were recalculating, the same failure and instruction appear in a message on the page instead. Demo payrolls stay on estimates and confirm Check date saved. Demo payrolls use estimated taxes.

Greenroom's last look before our tax partner approves

Immediately before asking our tax partner to approve, Greenroom reads its final preview of the payroll once more. If something doesn't hold up, nothing is approved or paid: the run goes back to In review and you see a message saying what to fix.

When the fix needs a role you don't have, such as an Approver asked for a resync or a deduction change, the refusal is addressed to the teammate who can make it. It starts "Ask a Payroll or Admin teammate to resolve this before you return here to finish submitting.", or "Ask an Admin teammate…" for the funding account, which only an Admin can save, and then gives the details for your teammate. A refusal whose remedy is to submit again or to contact Greenroom reaches everyone as it is, because no teammate can do more about it.

Will submitting actually move money?

The submit screen says so outright, in a card at the very top — but only when the answer is anything other than "yes". The same card sits above the confirmation after you submit. A live payroll gets no banner at all, deliberately: a notice on every run forever becomes wallpaper people stop reading, exactly when it finally matters.

Business info gaps

Company setup, and Settings' Company and Banking & payment tabs, are managed by an Admin. If you have the Payroll or Approver role, ask an Admin to make the company changes described here and in the submit checks below.

If your production's Business info is missing anything, a card on the submit screen says so, names the fields, and offers an Add it in Business info link (Company Setup before your company is approved, Settings → Company after) — with the explicit promise that the run stays exactly where it is while you go fix it.

The missing-fields notice is advisory. Our tax partner can still refuse the payroll when a required detail is missing, so complete the named fields before submitting.

Greenroom is careful about which claim it makes for which field, because they're genuinely different:

• Production name, FEIN, full address, phone — "This production's … must be on file before a payroll can be approved, and we don't have them." Our tax partner requires these details; a gap can lead to a refusal.
• Business type, website, expected payee count, expected start date — "This production's setup is also missing its …, which Greenroom needs even though we can send the payroll without them." The card doesn't claim our tax partner will refuse a payroll over these fields.

Saving Business info now sends your company's phone and website, along with its name and complete address, to our tax partner. If that update cannot be confirmed, Greenroom keeps your local save and says Saved in Greenroom, but these business details are not yet confirmed with our tax partner. Review Business info and save again to retry. If this continues, contact Greenroom. An Admin reviews the details and saves again; a save our tax partner confirms clears the message.

Before sending, approving, or submitting a payroll held by our tax partner, Greenroom checks the company's record there. A confirmed missing phone stops the action and asks an Admin to save it in Business info. If the record cannot be read, the page warns you rather than treating the phone as missing.

A whitespace-only field counts as missing, not present.

Post-tax deductions and our tax partner

This one is worth reading carefully, because it costs money in a way that isn't obvious.

Every post-tax deduction on an employee our tax partner pays is sent to it, at the exact amount. That covers union deductions (working dues, for example), the deductions on the payee's record (a wage garnishment, a tax levy, an advance repayment, initiation dues, health insurance, equipment, or a name you typed), deductions added on the run, and a representative's commission. For each one Greenroom keeps a deduction set up with our tax partner and sends this payroll's exact amount with it, so our tax partner withholds the same cents Greenroom calculated. A post-tax Roth 401(k) goes to our tax partner as a benefit instead. A loan-out's or contractor's payment already reaches our tax partner net of their deductions and commission, so there's nothing left for it to withhold.

Our tax partner withholds the money; it doesn't pay it on. Sending a garnishment, a levy, or a commission to whoever it's owed to is still the production's job. A garnishment line goes to our tax partner as an ordinary deduction, not as a garnishment order, so no garnishment limits are applied to it either (see Known Gaps).

A line that can't be sent this way stops the sync before anything reaches our tax partner: a negative amount, an amount that isn't whole cents, a deduction with no name, or a post-tax line marked with a benefit type other than Roth 401(k). The run's sync then fails with a message naming the payee and the line, for example "[name]'s post-tax deduction "[line]" could not be sent to our tax partner because it is a negative deduction. Our tax partner would pay it to the payee instead of withholding it, so this payroll was not sent. Correct the line and sync again." For a commission (for example one that came out negative), the message ends "Contact Greenroom to resolve the commission on this run" instead, because there's no control for editing a commission on the run.

Checking the deductions before you approve

Before you approve, Greenroom compares every post-tax deduction it recorded with what our tax partner will actually withhold. The submit screen and the funding panel show the result, and the same notice is printed on the funding document, so the copy you take to the bank says it too. The screens say what will be withheld without naming who withholds it; the printed document names our tax partner. Once the payroll is submitted, the screens show no notice.

The mismatch notices show three numbers: Greenroom recorded, Will be withheld (or Preview total, for a total that disagrees with its own lines), and Difference. Where the figure leaves out deductions set up outside Greenroom, its label says so (Will be withheld, less deductions set up outside Greenroom). Where approval lets the lines through, the notice ends "Review the run summary and resync taxes, or contact Greenroom before approving.", or "…before submitting." once the payroll is approved. Where approval refuses them, it says what clears the refusal instead.

A deduction held by our tax partner and one from Greenroom on the same payee

A deduction can also be set up directly with our tax partner, outside Greenroom (a child support order, for example). Greenroom doesn't own those, so they're left out of the line-by-line comparison above. Now that Greenroom sends its own post-tax deductions too, a payee who has both would have both withheld. What happens depends on whether the two could be the same debt:

• They could be the same obligation: the payroll can't be submitted. The notice names the payee and both sides: "[name] already has a deduction set up outside Greenroom ([its deduction and amount]), and Greenroom is now sending one too ([Greenroom's line and amount]). Both would be withheld. This payroll can’t be submitted until one of them is removed." If you submit anyway, the refusal says the same and ends "Remove one of them before submitting again.", and Submit then names the deduction there only. This is the case for almost every pair: any deduction line of Greenroom's (including one named "Advance Repayment" or typed in yourself) beside any deduction held by our tax partner, and anything of Greenroom's beside a general-purpose deduction held there, because that one could be anything, including an agent's cut.
• They can't be: a notice, and approval goes ahead. The one such pair is an agent or manager commission from Greenroom beside a child support or garnishment deduction held by our tax partner. A court or agency order isn't an agent's commission, so both are owed. The Additional deductions set up outside Greenroom notice says so: "[name] has a garnishment or child support deduction set up outside Greenroom ([deduction and amount]) and a different deduction from Greenroom ([commission and amount]). Both will be withheld. This does not block approval; confirm both are owed before submitting."

Greenroom decides this from what each line is, never from its name. A commission counts only because Greenroom made it from a real representative on the payee's record; a name is whatever someone typed, so a court order labelled "Advance Repayment" still refuses. If a payee has one pair that refuses and another that wouldn't, the notice names only the pair that refuses, and the payee's other deductions set up outside Greenroom are listed in Additional deductions set up outside Greenroom; the different-obligation sentence follows once the refusal is resolved.

A deduction that can't be withheld in full

Our tax partner withholds a deduction only from what is left of a payee's wages after tax. When a deduction is bigger than that, it withholds only what fits, or none of it, and its preview says so. Reimbursements and allowances don't count toward that pay, so a payee whose net pay is positive in Greenroom can still be short. Approving such a payroll would record a deduction that nobody withheld (dues reported, a fund paid), so Greenroom refuses it.

Payroll Summary and Submit Payroll then show Approval blocked — a deduction would be withheld for less than Greenroom recorded, and the disabled submit button says "A deduction on this payroll would be withheld for less than Greenroom recorded. See the note above for what to lower or remove." The notice opens "This payroll can't be approved or submitted while a deduction would be withheld for less than Greenroom recorded." and names each deduction and payee:

• "The [name] deduction ([amount]) is more than [payee]'s pay on this run, so only [amount] could be withheld. Reimbursements don't count toward pay for a deduction." When nothing fits, it says "none of it would be withheld" instead
• "… is more than the share of [payee]'s pay that may be withheld, so …", when the deduction is capped at a share of the pay
• "[payee]'s pay came back with a warning Greenroom doesn't recognise ([warning])."

It then says what to do: "Lower the deduction or remove it." With Admin or Payroll, use the edit pencil on the payee's Payroll Summary row; under Deductions, lower the Amount or use Remove line, then Save & recalculate. For a recurring deduction, edit Deductions on the payee's profile. Then try again. If your role is Approver, ask a Payroll or Admin teammate to make the change. A tax, a benefit, or a warning Greenroom doesn't recognise has nothing to lower on the run, so the notice ends "If there is nothing to lower on the run, contact Greenroom."

The same check runs when taxes are synced, so a sync that finds the problem stops with the same message, and again at the last moment before approval (see Greenroom's last look before our tax partner approves).

What can block submitting

Deductions exceed pay is a block on each included payee whose net pay is below zero, even when the payroll's combined net is positive. Payroll Summary names each payee and the shortfall: "[Name]'s deductions come to [amount] more than their pay on this run." Sending, approving, or submitting refuses with "This payroll can't be sent for approval, approved or submitted until these deductions are corrected."

With Admin or Payroll, open the edit pencil on that payee's Payroll Summary row. Under Deductions, lower the Amount or use Remove line, then Save & recalculate. For a recurring deduction, edit Deductions on the payee's profile. If your role is Approver, ask a Payroll or Admin teammate to make the correction. A zero-net or excluded row does not trigger this block.

A post-tax deduction with a Lump-sum target, such as initiation dues, can't cause this block: it takes only what the check can still cover, and Payroll Summary lists it under Installments reduced instead (see Payroll Adjustments). Every other deduction, a pre-tax one with a target included, can.

Most checks on this page are informational. A real submit attempt (or a Send for approval) runs several more checks before anything is committed: company standing first, then run-level checks, then every payee at once, then the checks made as the run is released, the run's contents, and two first-payroll-only questions. Anything that blocks surfaces as a specific, actionable message rather than silently proceeding.

Checked first, company-wide

Checked before the run's status moves at all

These are decided entirely from data Greenroom already holds, so they're settled before anything is committed.

Checked once for the whole run

Checked per payee, all at once

A run with several problems shows every one of them on the first attempt rather than one at a time: the refusal opens "One or more payees aren't ready to be paid:" and lists one line per problem.

Unfinished tax forms don't block. An employee whose W-4 or state form isn't finished is paid, and our tax partner withholds at the standard rate. The submit screen lists every such employee in a Tax forms not finished notice: "Payroll can continue. Until they finish, taxes are withheld at the standard single rate, which can be more than they'd choose. To remind them, open their payee page and use “Send tax setup link”." Each name links to that payee's tax withholding card. If, at the moment you submit, Greenroom finds someone in that position the page didn't list when it loaded, the submit is refused once ("… and this page didn't list them when it loaded … The notice above Submit now lists them — check it, then submit again."), so nobody is paid at the standard rate without the screen having said so.

The rows in this table that involve our tax partner apply only once a payee is connected to it (a demo company's payees, for instance, are exempt). The representative and foreign-payee checks are local to Greenroom and apply regardless.

If a contractor's, vendor's, or loan-out's tax status cannot be read, the refusal is "[name]: couldn't verify W-9 / TIN with our tax partner. Try submitting again; if this keeps happening, contact Greenroom." These notices give you the next step without showing our tax partner's internal error details.

Checked as the run is released

First-payroll questions

Choose how to handle your New York unemployment tax rate

We don't have the unemployment tax rate New York assigned you. Until you add your rate, payroll calculates at 4.025%, New York's rate for new employers. If New York assigned you a different rate, enter the one on your rate notice. If you add a different rate before December 31, our tax partner recalculates Q4 2026 when the quarter ends and debits or credits you the difference. Once a quarter has ended, New York bills or credits you directly.

Enter my assigned rate

%Save rate

It's on New York's annual Unemployment Insurance Rate Notice (Form IA 97). Don't include New York's 0.075% Re-employment Service Fund: it's calculated automatically, on its own line. If your rate notice shows a total that includes it, enter the total minus 0.075%: a 3.4% total is 3.325%.

Look up your New York unemployment rateSign in to New York's employer site and look for your assigned unemployment insurance rate.

I'm a new employer — use 4.025%

4.025% is the rate New York assigns employers who don't have an experience rating yet. It doesn't include New York's 0.075% Re-employment Service Fund, which is calculated automatically, on its own line. We'll save it as your rate, so later payrolls stop asking.

Continue without it for now

This payroll calculates at the same 4.025%. What differs is that nothing is saved, so later payrolls remind you until you add your rate. We'll record that you chose this.

The prior-provider question expires each tax year

On the Payroll signer and history stage of Company Setup, Greenroom asks: "Has anyone on this production been paid through another payroll provider this year?" Pick "No — this is our first payroll of the year" or "Yes — we've paid people elsewhere this year". After a Yes, also answer "Who ran this production's payroll before Greenroom?" from a list of providers (it includes "Nobody — this is our first payroll", and "Somewhere else" asks for the name), and click Save answer. Choosing an answer saves nothing until you do.

Once saved, the stage shows your answer with a Change answer link. You can change it until Greenroom approves your company setup; after that the stage (now on Settings → Company) reads "Contact Greenroom to change this answer."

The reason it can't wait: wages already paid this year have to be carried across, or your people get over-withheld and you can end up paying employer taxes twice on the same wages. Our tax partner only accepts that carry-across before your first payroll runs here.

An answer counts only for the tax year it was given in. A "no" recorded last year does not authorize this year — come January, the question reopens and Submit is held until you answer it again for the new year. That's deliberate: an answer that carried forward indefinitely would silently authorize every subsequent year, which has the same consequence as never having asked.

If you hit this, the fix is quick — answer the question for the current year under Payroll signer and history (in Company Setup, or on Settings → Company once your company is approved; the refusal says "Answer the year-to-date question under Payroll signer and history in Settings → Company"). The two answer buttons reappear there whenever the stored answer is stale, even after your company is approved.

If you answer "yes"

Answering yes opens a panel asking for the figures themselves: everyone paid on this production this year, their gross wages, the taxes withheld from each, and the pay dates. A year-to-date report or payroll register from your previous provider usually has all of it.

Two things you can do from there, and the ordering is deliberate:

• Email your year-to-date figures — the primary action. It opens a pre-addressed message to Greenroom support with your company number in the subject; the address is printed beside it as plain text too, in case your browser has no mail handler. Greenroom loads the figures for you.
• Continue without year-to-date figures — a quiet, secondary control. It takes effect only when you click Save answer, and the screen says what that means: "Save this answer to start without year-to-date figures for [year]. Wage bases restart from here."

Send them before you approve your first payroll. Once a payroll is approved, our tax partner stops accepting prior-provider wages through the app, and putting it right afterwards means Greenroom doing it by hand with them — slower, and not something we can promise a date for.

Pay hasn't been calculated yet

If an included payee's pay has not finished calculating after Add, you cannot send the run for approval, approve it, or submit it yet. The refusal names the payee and the control available on Payroll Summary. For example:

Pay for [name] hasn't been calculated yet. Choose Resync taxes on the Payroll Summary, then try again.

When the chip shows a failed sync, the message names Retry sync instead of Resync taxes; when taxes are still estimated, it names Calculate taxes. With Admin or Payroll, open Payroll Summary, use the button named in the refusal, and wait for it to finish before trying again. If you're an Approver, ask a Payroll or Admin teammate to do that calculation before you approve.

For a demo payroll, the refusal instead reads Pay for [name] hasn't been calculated yet. Contact Greenroom to finish calculating this demo payroll.

Cancelling a payroll

There's no cancel action. A draft you don't need moves no money unless it's submitted, and you can delete it with Delete draft in its header; a run past Draft can't be deleted (see Payroll Run Status). Once you've submitted, don't try to reverse it yourself; contact support with the run's code if there's an urgent problem.

Best practices

• Review Payroll Summary and Union Reports thoroughly before you reach this screen — Submit Payroll is a final check, not a place to start reviewing
• Confirm the funding figures against your bank balance before submitting: Total to fund (on Payroll Summary, on Submit and on the printed Payroll funding summary) is what has to be in the account. Direct deposits and taxes are debited in one lump sum on the day of the approval deadline, not on payday, and the rest, such as union fund checks and paper checks, leaves the account separately
• Read the approval-deadline line on Submit, and make sure the last approval lands before it
• Keep the run's code handy after submitting, in case you need to contact support

Next steps

After submitting, continue to Payroll Success for what the confirmation means and where the run lives afterward, or see Payroll Run Status for the full status lifecycle.